I still remember the first time I played Hollow Knight back in 2020. I had just picked it up on my PS5, not really knowing what I was getting into. Within the first hour I was completely hooked. The atmosphere, the music, the strange little world of bugs that somehow felt more alive than most AAA games… it was magic.
From that moment on I was a fan. And like millions of others, I’ve been waiting for Silksong ever since. At first it felt like it was just around the corner; an expansion, a small follow-up, maybe a quick turnaround. Then the years started rolling by. The updates stopped. The silence stretched on. All we had were memes, theories, and the eternal question: Silksong when?
And yet… here we are. After seven years of near-total silence, Team Cherry finally announced the release date. September 4. It’s real. It’s happening.
What fascinates me isn’t just the game itself. It’s how this tiny team, with almost no traditional video game marketing strategy, managed to build one of the most anticipated launches in gaming history. No constant updates. No overhyped teasers. Just three guys in Adelaide quietly building the game they wanted… and letting hype grow on its own.
For digital entrepreneurs like us, there’s something powerful here. We’re told to ship fast, post more, iterate endlessly. But Team Cherry did the opposite; they slowed down, stayed small, and focused on the work. And somehow it worked better than any digital product launch strategy money could buy.
So let’s break down what they did right… and how you can apply these lessons to your own business.
1. The Power of Patience in a Hype-Driven Market
Most entrepreneurs feel like they’re in a race. Get to market fast. Launch the MVP. Iterate quickly. And sure, there’s truth to that; sometimes speed is the only way to survive.
But patience has a power of its own.
As Ari Gibson put it in an interview: “It was never stuck or anything. It was always progressing. It’s just the case that we’re a small team, and games take a lot of time.”
That’s the essence of patience. Silksong wasn’t “delayed” in their eyes; it was simply unfolding at its natural pace.
And that choice turned patience into a marketing weapon. Every extra year added to the anticipation. Every “Silksong when?” comment, every meme thread, every rumor on Reddit became free advertising. Their silence created scarcity. Their patience built myth.
Think about this in business terms. Most SaaS founders are terrified of being forgotten if they don’t launch quickly. But what if waiting — polishing your app until it’s addictive — creates a better outcome? If your product is strong enough, hype builds on its own. That’s the genius behind the Hollow Knight Silksong launch strategy.
Apple does this brilliantly. They hold back until the moment is right, and when they finally reveal something, it feels like a cultural event. Tesla has done the same; their delays frustrate people, but they also keep everyone watching.
Entrepreneur takeaway: not everything needs to be rushed. Sometimes waiting… sometimes holding back until you’re confident… is what makes a product unforgettable.
Mini Exercise: Check Your Pace
- Look at your current project. Are you rushing to get it out the door, or are you intentionally polishing it?
- Ask yourself: if I released this today, would it feel complete… or would it feel like an anxious rush?
- Write down one area where patience could make your launch 10x more impactful.
2. Staying Small is a Superpower
Team Cherry’s dev style is famously lean. No Jira. Barely any Trello. As William Pellen joked in an interview: “What is Jira? Is it a software?”
That tells you everything you need to know. While bigger studios drown in project management tools, Team Cherry stayed tiny. Just a handful of people in a barebones office, drawing, coding, and testing.
Most people think growth means scaling headcount. More people, more progress. But more people also means more meetings, more management, more stress.
By staying small, Team Cherry gave themselves two advantages:
- Creative freedom. They could chase weird ideas, experiment with characters, and pivot instantly without bureaucracy.
- Consistency. No one was stuck managing a bloated team. They could just focus on the fun of building.
And most importantly, staying small preserved their joy. As Gibson said: “We’ve been having fun. This whole thing is just a vehicle for our creativity anyway. It’s nice to make fun things.”
This resonates with any digital entrepreneur. When you’re small, you can outmaneuver giants. Indie creators’ marketing strategies often outperform VC-backed startups because they’re more authentic, more responsive, and less bogged down in management.
Think of creators like Pieter Levels, who built Nomad List and Remote OK almost entirely solo; or indie course creators who clear six figures without ever hiring staff. Their advantage is their size.
Mini Exercise: Audit Your Team Size
- If you’re a solopreneur, ask: am I pressuring myself to “scale” when I don’t need to?
- If you have a team, ask: are these people making me faster, or are they slowing me down with management overhead?
- Write down one way you could simplify your workflow this week.
3. Silence as a Marketing Strategy
In 2019, Team Cherry posted one last update. Then… nothing. Years of silence.
Normally, that would kill a community. But with Silksong, it did the opposite.
As Gibson explained: “We felt like continued updates were just going to sour people on the whole thing. Because all we could really say is, ‘We’re still working on it.’”
That restraint was brilliant. Instead of flooding fans with noise, they let silence do the work.
Scarcity creates value. Every crumb of information became precious. Mystique drives speculation. Fans filled the gap themselves with memes, theories, and silkposts. And silence gave Team Cherry the biggest gift of all: focus.
Now compare this to most entrepreneurs. They overshare. They live-stream their builds. They post weekly updates no one asked for. And in doing so, they drain the magic. The audience becomes numb.
This is why Silksong has become a video game marketing case study in its own right. It shows how mystery can become part of your brand identity.
Entrepreneur takeaway: you don’t have to constantly scream for attention. Sometimes the best strategy is strategic silence; fewer but more meaningful updates.
Mini Exercise: Practice Strategic Silence
- Think about your current launch. Where can you hold back details to increase curiosity?
- Instead of telling your audience everything you’re working on, try teasing just the outcome.
- Journal one “mystery hook” you can use in your next announcement.
4. Money Buys Creative Freedom
During Hollow Knight’s development, Gibson and Pellen were broke. As Gibson admitted: “My dad would sometimes pop up and give me $20. I’d be like, ‘Oh, I’m having coffee today!’”
Fast-forward a few years and they’d sold over 15 million copies. That success gave them the one thing most entrepreneurs crave: freedom.
And instead of blowing it on a big office or a massive team, they kept it simple. As Pellen put it: “There’s a level of finish that has to be met throughout the entire game… as you add stuff, the process of tying it all back together just increases.” The money bought them the time to actually finish things properly.
For entrepreneurs, the lesson is clear. Your first product doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to buy you runway.
Maybe it’s your first eBook, your first online course, your first SaaS tool. It might not be your magnum opus… but if it pays your bills and gives you freedom to focus on the bigger vision, that’s enough.
Look at Alex Hormozi’s path. His first gyms weren’t the “end goal.” They were the foundation. The revenue gave him runway to build his consulting business, which gave him runway to build Acquisition.com. Each step bought more creative freedom.
Team Cherry’s story works the same way. Hollow Knight gave them the stability to pour seven years into Silksong without fear. For us, the entrepreneur’s version is building a course, book, or SaaS that buys time for the next project. That’s the essence of content marketing for entrepreneurs — your earlier efforts create the breathing room for bigger risks later.
Mini Exercise: Build Your Runway
- Write down your monthly living expenses.
- Multiply that by six. That’s your six-month runway.
- Now ask: what’s the simplest product I can launch in the next 30 days that could realistically cover that?
5. Community and Meme Culture
While Team Cherry stayed quiet, their fans didn’t. They built the culture around Silksong themselves. Memes, silkposts, Reddit threads, YouTube theories.
And the devs didn’t interfere. They didn’t try to control the community. They just let people play. As Gibson said: “It’s nice that people are passionate about the game, and that they’ve obviously formed their own strange or very exciting communities around it.”
That’s the dream. When your audience fuels the hype without you lifting a finger.
And this doesn’t just apply to video games. Look at Notion. Their team didn’t create every meme or template. The community did. Same with Figma, same with WordPress. Products that inspire people naturally generate their own ecosystems.
This is one of the strongest indie game marketing lessons: don’t force engagement, inspire it. If you give people a product worth talking about, they’ll create the buzz for you.
For entrepreneurs, this means one thing: don’t just build an audience… build a fandom. Give people lore, personality, and quirks they can latch onto. The more depth and personality in your product, the more people will obsess over it.
Mini Exercise: Spark Fandom Energy
- Ask yourself: what’s one element of my product I could make more fun, quirky, or memorable?
- Could I plant an Easter egg only my true fans will notice?
- Could I encourage user-generated content by highlighting customer stories or fan-made memes?
Conclusion: What Digital Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Silksong
Most companies would’ve been forgotten after seven years of silence. Most creators would’ve lost their community. Most entrepreneurs would’ve burned out trying to push constant updates.
Team Cherry didn’t.
They stayed patient. They stayed small. They stayed silent. And they kept building for the love of it. As Gibson said near the end of development: “Launching it is obviously quite exciting. What comes after for us is equally as exciting.”
That’s the final lesson. When you truly love the process, the launch isn’t the end… it’s just another chapter.
So here’s what we can take from them:
- Patience isn’t weakness; it’s strategy.
- Staying small can be your greatest advantage.
- Silence can build mystique and anticipation.
- Money should buy freedom, not distraction.
- The best marketing is when your community fuels itself.
If a tiny studio in a grubby office can create one of the most anticipated games of the decade… then you can take your digital product idea and build something people will wait years for too.
That’s why this isn’t just about Silksong. It’s about learning timeless hype-building marketing strategies from Team Cherry and applying them to your own journey as an entrepreneur.
So don’t just aim to “launch something.” Build something worth waiting for.
